Short answer, probably Not.
Long answer, A court of Law has no realtionship to Physics or Metalurgy, so we will dismiss the Rem suit.
For fluid steel as correctly Posted as long as the stress applied and resulting strain are within the Plastic Deformation limits, the barrel will always return to its original dimensions and be fully functional for the next cycle. Some steels have a Theortical Limit below which they do not exhibit fatigue. BUT and this is the big BUT, turn of the century metalurgy was an almost archmical process with not much actually understood about why things happen, so your barrel would be judged on an individual basis. In other words if it doesn't fail its good, if it does fail its not good. The movements in the steel lattice structure are only visible under Transmission Electron Microscopy and require a destructive examine, i.e a slice of the barrel.
So basically, newly manufactured gun barrels are immune from fatigue and brittle failure but for an older gun, who really knows. If truly in doubt, that is why the Brits Re-Proof older firearms.-Dick
